Let’s talk about trusting God no matter what. In my experience, trusting God completely and keeping your faith strong can be hard, especially when life throws curveballs our way. It’s totally normal to feel doubt and fear when things get tough. But that’s actually when leaning into our Christian faith can be the most comforting. Trusting in God means believing there’s a bigger plan at work, even if we can’t see it right now. Frankly, that’s hard for me because I want to “know’ how things will end or turn out.
One way to deepen our faith to trust in God is through prayer and reflection.
Another is by surrounding ourselves with friends we trust who share our Christian beliefs.
They can pray for us through our rough season and can offer support along the way.
By staying connected to God and His people, we can slowly learn to let go of our worries and enjoy the journey, knowing we’re guided and cared for by the actual Creator of the universe who just happens to be our Father in heaven.
Situations That May Make Trusting God Completely Challenging
In my personal life, I’m dealing with a couple of these right now. The biggest and hardest is grief. The second is the recent loss of my job.
Is yours on this list?
1. Experiencing Personal Loss
- Loss of a Loved One: As I said, the death of a close family member, friend, or loved one can cause deep grief and sorrow, making it hard to understand God’s plan.
- Divorce or Relationship Breakdown: The end of an important relationship can make you feel betrayed and lonely and cause you to question God’s presence and purpose.
2. Facing Severe Illness
- Chronic or Terminal Illness: For sure, coping with a serious illness, whether personally or with a loved one, can challenge your faith as you wrestle with pain, suffering, and uncertainty about the future.
3. Enduring Financial Hardships
- Job Loss: Dang! I’m really on my own list. Life is just hard right now. Pray for me. Anyway, unemployment or job insecurity can lead to anxiety and doubt about God’s provision and timing. It is so true.
- Debt and Poverty: Financial instability and the inability to meet basic needs can test one’s trust in God’s provision.
4. Encountering Injustice or Abuse
- Experiencing Abuse: Surviving physical, emotional, or sexual abuse can profoundly shake one’s faith in God’s protection and justice.
- Facing Discrimination: Ongoing experiences of racism, sexism, or other forms of discrimination can lead to questioning God’s fairness and presence in a world filled with injustice.
5. Dealing with Unanswered Prayers
- Perceived Silence from God: When prayers seem to go unanswered, or God feels distant, it can lead to doubt and frustration, making it hard to maintain trust.
- Unfulfilled Desires: Long-held dreams or desires that remain unfulfilled can challenge faith, especially when one has been faithful and patient. This could be waiting for a spouse or praying for a financial breakthrough.
6. Navigating Major Life Transitions
- Major Life Changes: Events like moving to a new city, starting a new job, or significant changes in family dynamics can create uncertainty and anxiety, testing one’s faith.
- Retirement or Empty Nest: I think adjusting to new stages in life, such as retirement or children leaving home, can bring feelings of loss and identity crisis, challenging trust in God’s plan.
7. Witnessing Global Suffering
- Natural Disasters and Wars: Observing widespread suffering and devastation can lead to questioning God’s power and compassion.
- Pandemics: Global health crises can induce fear, uncertainty, and doubt about God’s control over world events.
“Trust God, they say.”
Trusting God completely is often hard. Anyone who tells you differently is a liar.
See, trusting Him requires surrendering all our control and embracing uncertainty, which goes against our natural desire for security and predictability.
It also goes completely against our “need to know.”
If you’re analytical like me, you want to know what is going on and, as I said before, how things will turn out.
Our personal experiences of pain, loss, and disappointment can lead to doubt and make it difficult to believe in God’s plan and goodness.
Ultimately, the human tendency to know, to control and to be in charge can create a MASSIVE barrier to fully trusting in God’s wisdom and timing.
By recognizing these challenges and actively seeking ways to address them, we can strengthen our trust in God even in the hardest of times.
It’s still so hard, though, right?
Trusting God in hard situations feels a bit like handing over the dessert menu to the Lord and saying, “You know what’s best, so surprise me.”
It’s about letting go of my limited perspective and embracing the idea that a bigger plan is at play.
So, I’m learning to relax and trust that God’s got my back, even when I’m not entirely sure what I want or understand what is happening around me.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part;
1 Corinthians 13:9
Trusting God is easier said than done.
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Though we often long to fully comprehend the Lord’s ways, we can find comfort in the certainty that He cares for us and all those around us with unwavering love.
Sometimes, it requires letting go of our ambitions and wholeheartedly trusting in Him, knowing He has the best plan for us and those we hold dear.
In surrendering to His will, we find true peace and joy.
How does “trusting God completely” look in real life?
Trusting God, in my opinion, is like steering a ship through a storm, believing the lighthouse will guide you safely to shore.
It’s about finding the strength to surrender control when faced with life’s turbulent seas, knowing that God’s plan may NOT always align with our immediate desires or expectations.
Yet, it’s the BEST thing for us.
Girl, trusting God means having the patience to endure the darkest nights, confident that dawn will break eventually.
In real life, trusting God means having strong, steady faith that helps us through difficult times.
When we trust God completely, this is what happens…
He grants us strength, hope, and assurance when we need it the most.
I’m a perfect witness to the fact that at that very moment, you feel you cannot make it another step; He gives you everything you need to keep going.
When my mom was declining, God provided everything we needed.
He made the money last to her very final breath.
He gave me the strength to do what I needed to do.
He kept my health so I could be there for her.
He will provide for you, too!
Here is what we have to do to keep trusting God
When we let go of all our fears and worries, He’ll wrap us in His love and show us that His plans for us are way better than anything we can imagine.
This usually happens in scripture reading.
As you read your Bible, you’ll get this kind of insight.
But, if you cannot do a deep Bible study, worship. Pray and read the Psalms.
Don’t let me fake you out, though!
Christian Sister, please don’t let me lead you to think trusting God completely is an easy feat.
IT. IS. HARD!!!!!
You will feel like you’re on an emotional and spiritual rollercoaster.
Like forgiveness, you may feel one way and then a few minutes later feel another way altogether.
Prepare for the “ups” and downs” of trusting God completely.
Doubt will enter your mind. Bet on it!
I think it is completely normal to doubt why God would allow trials in your life.
Listen, maintaining trust in God can be incredibly tough even though He is giving you the strength, hope, and assurance I mentioned above.
You know, you may wonder about His plan – or if His plan for you is good.
Let me add myself to this factor and use the word “we” again.
We may wonder why we have to struggle or why we (or loved ones) must endure pain.
Let me tell you, these doubts and uncertainties are only natural, as we all seek relief and comfort when faced with adversity.
DO NOT BEAT YOURSELF UP!
Remember that having these feelings doesn’t mean your faith is weak; they’re part of living in both a spiritual reality and a natural one as well.
Let me explain.
As Christians, we know God is in control and will take care of us.
Our souls are saved, and we are spiritually convinced of these things. That’s our spiritual reality as Christian women.
However, we also live in a natural reality, too.
This means we have analytical thoughts, fears, and memories—these war against our spiritual reality messing with our assurance.
That’s a whole other blog post.
It suffices to say that having that “tug of war” between your natural and spiritual self is normal. Just feed the spiritual one with Bible study, prayer, and worship, and it will be stronger than the other.
Anyway…
The point is when worry sneaks into our day, we need to cast our cares, worries, and doubts on the Lord, knowing He has everything under control regardless of how things appear.
We must surrender to Him with confidence, trusting that God is working behind the scenes to bring victory.
Even in our darkest moments, we can trust that God is tirelessly by our side.
One of our biggest roadblocks to trusting God completely
As you know, we humans, tend to seek immediate solutions to our problems.
We love a quick fix!
I am old enough to remember when dinner was ALWAYS real food.
Do you know what I mean?
Then came the 70s version of TV dinners.
Man, I’ll tell you, while the TV dinners would feed us, they definitely didn’t nourish us.
That weird substance they called fried chicken was nothing compared to my mama’s homemade fried chicken, which came from that electric skillet or her big, black, heavy cast iron skillet.
If you are wondering what a TV dinner looked like back then just go to YouTube to see how I lived my life.
Sure, the chicken came quicker and easier (for Mama), but the best things (her chicken) took time and tasted so much better.
Same thing goes with our trials.
Those that last a while tends to render better results in our lives.
Trusting God often requires patience and a willingness to endure suffering for a greater purpose.
It’s tempting to seek quick fixes (like nasty TV dinners) in moments of distress rather than placing our faith in God’s timing and wisdom. This impatience can strain our ability to trust in His plan.
Trusting God completely during challenging times is not simple. It is not easy. It’s a journey. I feel I need to say that over and over so you’ll remember it.
The intensity of suffering, the mysteries of God’s plan, and our wish for quick relief can make it hard to trust God during tough times.
Many people find their faith strengthened during adversity as they learn to let go and trust in God’s love and guidance. I’ve experienced this myself.
AGAIN…Trusting God is Easier Said Than Done
It is not always a “one and done” situation – trusting God completely, is it?
Forgiveness, trusting Him, and surrendering our troubles to Him are oftentimes processes.
It’s difficult to “step aside” immediately and just stop worrying because, in our surrender process, we have a nasty habit of re-claiming situations and carrying the load all over again.
No problem. When that happens, we all have to cast them on the Lord all over again.
That’s all there is to it!
You believe.
You get scared and no longer believe.
You believe again.
It is a cycle for sure.
Check out this scripture:
Jesus said to him, “If[a] you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!”
Mark 9:23-25
Remember this, Christian Lady…
It’s important to remember that no situation is too big or too small to bring before Jesus.
He desires to carry our burdens and help us find solutions.
By praying and letting go of our worries, we can experience His peace that surpasses all understanding as we trust Him totally.
Therefore, I invite everyone to trust Jesus and seek His guidance in every aspect of life.
Trust in His unconditional love and transformative power, knowing He never forsakes us and is always willing to help.
Dare to trust in Jesus and experience the wonder of His eternal grace and love!
Won’t you join me?
Resolve with me – right this cotton-pickin’ moment – to trade your heavy burdens for His light ones. Amen? So be it!
